The Miller House and ICFF
This week is a busy one here at Lifework. I’ll be in Columbus, Indiana for a few days visiting the Miller House (pictured below) and then to New York for ICFF (where we’ve got lots of exciting new stories to share with you).
The Miller House history is intrinsically tied to Herman Miller. The home was commissioned by J. Irwin Miller, a wealthy industrialist, and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1953. Miller and his wife hired Eero Saarinen to design the house, Alexander Girard to work on the interiors and Dan Kiley to take care of the landscape architecture. Girard’s fabrics for Herman Miller feature heavily throughout the home. And it was Girard that got the Eameses involved. He saw the need for outdoor furniture and called on his friends Ray and Charles to design chairs for the verandah. A year later the Aluminum Group lounge chair was in production at Herman Miller. (More on that story later this week!)
Above: Saarinen and Eames met at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. (Image via SMOW)
In 2000 the house was designated a National Historic Landmark. Dan Kiley, was still living and the house was still occupied by the Irwins. Today the house is open to the public for tours. In fact, the first tour is tomorrow and I will be on it – camera in hand. I’m very excited to share this beautiful house with you.
Learn more about the home at the Indianapolis Museum of Art site and the Miller House Symposium, Friday, May 20. Dwell magazine also has an excellent slideshow of the house here.
I am jealous.